BEEGEAGLE’S BLOG
18 May, 2015
QUOTE
2015/05/18 at 5:09 am
“I note that the magazine “Soldier of Fortune” has now come out stating that STTEP played a role in rescuing the captives in Sambisa forest! What rubbish they can spew…
Indeed, most of the article is based on assumptions,conjecture, lies and disinformation – something the writer gets paid for.
Neither I nor STTEP have ever claimed anything other than our small role with 72 Mobile Force. Nor have we tried to intimate we were involved in any of the NA successes.”
END
Beegeagle's Blog 
And so it carries on. There is a determined drive by certain interests to keep this narrative going.
In my opinion the reason western media and its associates keep raining propaganda against our army is because america and its allies are unable to match Nigeria’s success. Take it or leave it, the americans are now trying to copy Nigerian military tactics in iraq. And while they are trying to learn from our military, their propaganda is trying to destroy the image of our military in order to hide the fact that supposed “great america” is outmatched by Nigeria. In 6 weeks Nigeria has done what usa generals stated that it would take us forces at least 2 years to do in iraq.
Clever observation Oga Igbi. How you dey na?
Oga Igbi, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Debunking one conspiracy (STTEP helping in Sambisa) is sufficient. Dont come and add your own conspiracy of AMERIKA using propaganda on us because we are successful. And no, we dont take it or leave it… That’s a nonsense statement. Also, Iraq is not NE Nigeria, do we have a Sectarian conflict between Shias and Sunni here supported by middle eastern powers? Sapere Aude.
American war doctrine is different from ours, just like its different from the French and it different from the British, based on their doctrine they project and plan differently.
Oga Oges, I am fine how are you sir, take care.
@roscotti, I am not here to join issues with you and your dogma. I have better things to do, and please @roscottu feel free to ignore me. I am not going to have a long debate with someone whose only aim is to contradict me.
I hear the american alliance has just experienced an other shameful outing in iraq.
Am getting tired of all these propagandas against the NM. These “people” are relentless in their aim to smear,degrade and ridicule the Nigerian Military but we must be “relentless” also to outsmart, out-do, out-perform and outstand them. We mustn’t give-in to their evil agendas.
As they spew their rubbish, we MUST counter their rubbish. This is a battle of tit-for-tat. Let them bring it on, we must bring on our counter offensive with FACTS and PROOFS.
These people wont give up easily on Nigeria, WE MUST ESCORT AND FOLLOW THEM TO THE GATE OF HELL. It’s said that a good defense is a good offense. We must not get tired of countering their bad narratives.
#GodBlessNigeria
#VictoryAloneBelongToGod
I have come to the conclusion that American war management practice, let me not mis-use the term ‘doctrine’ is extremely foolish and wasteful. They continue to take canons to a knife fight and continue to wonder why brute force, brand new gear and dazzling technology does not always work Hawaiians ”inferior natives”.
I’ve never seen a people more disposed to lead with technology first and then hurriedly design strategy and tactic around it later than the Americans. They also under estimate every enemy and take the dumbest risks. I am not surprised they would feel some jealousy especially about Liberia, Sierra Leone and the progress against Boko Haram.
*against*
American foreign policy views war from the Clausewitz lens, as politics waged by other means.This view is flawed and incomplete. Their soldiers and military commanders have a better grasp of the mechanics (see Petraus and his use of Sunni tribes to fight during the surge and their destruction of the Iraqi Army in Gulf war 1 and 2), they have good strategists but relatively poor political will(See Obamas withdrawal from Iraq and Bushes initial commitment of troops to Iraq).
That said , There is propaganda. I am skeptical it is due to envy. It may be due to suspended disbelief. They may actually not believe we are capable of eliminating an insurgency in the time frame we have done so, They doubted Tikrit could be retaken, they publicly said Kobane would fall, do they envy the Kurds and the Iraqis?
Never ascribe to malice what could just be plain stupidity. They may be just dumb as rocks and blind to the fact.
You are contradicting yourself. It might not be jealousy; more like rank racism and the shock at seeing a black nation taking steps forward.
It certainly isn’t stupidity. It is a DELIBERATE thing.
Oga Roscoe With due respect sir You have misfired on this one.
Am no authority on military strategy BT certainly I am a good student on the application of psycho-warfare on a Developing multi-caucus society like ours. borrowing the words of a fellow blogger “take it or leave it” there is no theory just plain conspiracy.
Full Disclosure: I may have shot the messenger because its my dear friend (not). Forgive me but the bearer of the message may have led to some of my rxn.
At the same time I struggle to see the vast international conspiracy, sometimes I just think they bad mouth us cos their populace cannot accept what we have done. And they always want to see Nigeria and other countries in Sub Saharan Africa as dependent, needy hungry places.
Special thanks to Chief Beegeagle for all his hard work.
Hi People, I am not of the opinion that the Americans or “Western press” are jealous of NA, they are just stupidly ignorant and blinded by pride. They believe so much in themselves that they fail to see the ability of others. You only need to listen to the vitriol and foolishness those they call African experts and governments advisers spew out each time they are offered some air time on CNN or any of the other popular news channels.
In 2009, I met an arrogant fool whom I more or less could describe as an enemy for life right in the heat of things. This was what he said of the ANA “these vermins can’t fight…afterall, they are all the same (meaning with the Talibans)”. This was after Red dagger (Afghanistan). I later learnt he had also said some nasty things about the RMs that had come over to take the bulk of the responsibility for deteriorating Helmand even though a sizeable number of US MEF was stationed around the place. It goes a long way to show the pride of several (not all) of these people (from senior military officers to ordinary people on the street). That said, the Nigerian media need to rise to the task of defending the flag of Nigeria. If the media cannot sing the praises of the men and women dying to keep the country safe, do not expect an outsider to do it!
president elect keeps slamming the military and praising usa and uk, there is something wrong with this picture.
@ Igbi I think we should allow him take over first and see how he handles military issues. most of the statements attributed to him might have being quoted out of context. welcome back, told you this blog is additive
nice reminder oga saleh..beegz have developed a medicine in this blog
Boko Haram: Buhari slams military for hiring mercenaries
…
His words: “The military has never been so incapacitated like now. It is a shame that the Military cannot secure 14 out of the 774 local governments in the country.
“What is more worrisome is the fact that Nigeria’s military has to rely on South African mercenaries before it could gain recent success in the war against Boko Haram. This situation is shameful and unacceptable
…
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/boko-haram-buhari-slams-military-for-hiring-mercenaries/
I FEAR FOR NIGERIA
The truth is bitter
What about this truth which we keep seeing:
usa and america, again ! Apparently these countries are our babysitters. They tell us what to do and how to obey our own laws. Yes the truth is bitter. But I don’t think you actually know the truth. Eventhough it is obvious.
uk and america
How can a country be independent and be a vassal at the same time ? Come may 29, I fear the worse. And this is putting it nicely and trying to play down my words extremely.
Regarding Buhari, it’s best to lock up on that issue. I personally have decided never to mention a word about him in public again.
I think it is time for Nigerians to learn a serious and painful lesson about self sufficiency and national independence. Millions of our people are brainwashed and living in a fantasy world where America and the UK love them and care about their interests more than Nigeria. They have even gone and voted for the opposite of anything Nigeria needs at this point – because the benevolent US and UK told them to.
They need to see and experience what is going to happen. If the country continues on its progressive trajectory in spite of the dusty ignoramus at the helm, then we will know that Nigeria has crossed the rubicon and can never be debased by foreign powers again. If the country implodes like it did the last time he was in power, then Nigerians of this generation will finally learn the very painful and stressful lesson that that this world is a world of scarcity which owes you nothing. They will learn that the Western Hegelian Dialectic model which turns every issue into ‘absolute good’ vs ‘absolute evil’ has no space to accommodate the growth and prosperity of Africans. They will learn that the next time they have a President who has the country’s interests at heart who is mercilessly attacked by foreign media and their local lickspittles, it will be wise to think and examine issues for themselves rather than getting swept up in a wave of hysteria which frames him as absolute evil which must be removed, and frames the foreign vassal as Jesus Christ.
It is a very painful lesson, but one which every non-Western country with aims of developing has had to learn. The Chinese for example, really do not love their government, but they are smart enough to realise that the ‘democracy’ which the West keeps trying to brainwash them into will be even worse for them because the West is interested in the West’s advancement – not their own.
Nigerians – Africans in fact – are still so delightfully naive that they do not understand that nobody in this world is your friend. Our people are trying to survive in the 21st century global village of scarcity with a 7th century African village mindset of natural abundance. That deadly naivete which enabled slave raiders to come into Africa and take over our land and resources which we stood by and watched in dumb genuflection is still alive and well. I was queuing for petrol recently and I struck up a conversation with other people on the queue about the need to remove the fuel subsidy. A well-dressed gentleman near me said and I quote “There’s no need to remove the subsidy. Once that man (Buhari) enters, all this problem will go away. The reason for all this fuel scarcity is corruption. Once he enters all those corrupt people will run away.”
I inquired, assuming “corruption” ends on May 29 (regardless of how infantile a notion that is), how exactly will Nigeria keep funding this subsidy? With which money? Do you know that the global oil price has fallen? Do you understand that Nigeria’s budget is 70% recurrent already? Do you realise that Nigeria is not a ‘rich’ country by any realistic definition? He replied, “My brother there is money in Nigeria! I went to one PDP man’s house two weeks ago, if you see the cars?! There is money! This country is rich!”
At this point I ended the conversation and put on my headphones because what’s the use? This is a country where it is possible to go to school, get a job, get married, buy a car and have kids without having the slightest understanding of how the world works in terms of economics, geopolitics or philosophy. This country is filled with prideful, aggressive philistines who know absolutely nothing but shout the loudest and project their imaginary intelligence everywhere.
It’s time for everyone to learn some painful lessons.
Africans only ever seem to learn when it’s the hard way after all. Buhari is here. Change is here.
Enjoy it everyone. In the end, we’ll know who was right.
Thank you Dario. You said it all. Those with ears will hear. Period
Dario we said oga mi well said..
Many value are lacking in the minds of most nigerians
the typical mindset of many nigerians is simple
grow
go to school
build a house
buy a car
get married
have kids
flaunt the medicore weath he or she has achieved
simply never thinking outside the bus
and trust our ever selfish smart politicians they will always exploit the typical nigerian mindset
Take a look At BH incubation and the nNigerian reaction
lax we are to full off life hardly aware of existent threats.we seek not to grow the nigerian state but to grow our four corner personal world
patrotism is a forlon word devoid of importance…
simple Many Nigerians like a national and personal Identity until then many will continue looking dreaminly at western hand of fellowship abi destruction
values
lack
@oga dario, hardly can add to your words of wisdom. nigerians still live with primordial mindset, me, my family, and my close associate. we still havent learnt anything deep. as long as this primordial living continues, no amount of oil boom or democracy will uplift the country.
Dario, words of wisdom my man…
@ Oga Dario, you completely said my mind. Let the African think, nobody loves the African…… especially the Americans and the Europeans. The African must be smart, get what you want smartly, and leave.
The Nigerians claiming Buhari has a magic wand to fix corruption need to get admitted to a psychiatric ward.
Reading a Nigerian daily just now and reading the unwanted bashing of the military by the president elect makes me wonder at what’s going on. When he was last there, did he do anything to empower the military?The president-elect of Nigeria is talking too much, in my opinion. He is not focused on the problems facing the country. The biggest and most populated economy on the continent is facing serious security challenge all over. Terrorism and kidnapping, to mention the leading two. Boko haram in the North-East, other socio political groups like Arewa, OPC and MEND are problems to Nigeria. As it is now, there is a need to bring the country together as one again. There is a need to put power back in the hands of the security organs in the country, there is a need to reverse the mistake of the former president who handed over the security of key oil infrastructure to OPC and MEND –except if the Nigerian media has informed me. The president-elect needs the full support of the military to secure the country, yet he is bashing the same military in the media every day in order to please “Westerners” In my opinion, he does this because he desperately wants to prove the point that he is a “former dictator, now a converted democrat” as he claimed at Chatham house. If people would recall, he badly hurt the UK, in particular in his anti-corruption fight in the early 80s when the flow of ill-gotten wealth especially to the UK dried up under him and his failed bid to kidnap Umaru Dikko. But should he sacrifice the interest of the nation and the pride of those dying to secure Nigeria in order to run the reputation of the outgoing administration aground and secure cheap political points with Westerners? I think not!
How much has he paid Tony Blair per hour to appear at his party programme. It takes millions to fly liar Tony Blair across the world, host him and get him to speak more lies. At present, that guy doesn’t even have good reputation in here in his home country, the UK. Buhari is starting off on a wrong foot, if you ask me.
Note this before I am bashed here, I am non-partisan and I don’t care whose party wins the election so long as the president leads the country in the right direction. I want my children to proudly carry the Nigerian passport and feel very safe in coming to Nigeria, I also want to safely retire home someday. It takes a government that is not distracted, not driven by cheap political gain and vendetta and a government with a vision to move Nigeria to that level where every Nigerian feels happy and safe again. The president elect does not seem to be starting off on the right foot to achieve that. Nigeria needs a leader that will sustain her economic growth, secure the integrity of the nation, diversify the economy, drive industrialization, modernize the military and bring about a reduction in corruption, improve on the educational and health system and think towards the future at this time!
its strange that folks condemn GMB for echoing what what we have being screaming for on this forum. During the short span of his first leadership the Nigeria military was a force to reckon with, we had an airforce that could achieve air superiority and and a navy that sailed the blue waters with missile. He didnt need to do any massive procurement. In this case, its a pity the military couldnt contain BH these years as a result of selfish military leadership and corruption which he is aware of. most professional military personnel not the political ones are very much in agreement with his utterances. how do you fathom the fact that COAS and generals retire to stupendous wealth when they didnt have any outside businesses while in service. Please call personnel in the the NE to know about a funny form they are being made to sign indicating they collect 100k allowance monthly. money they never collected.i can see this forum being very busy soon when the military cans starts opening
Which COAS retired with “stupendous wealth” ?
Check out what Gen Ihejirka is worth now and pay a visit to ovim in abia state or the 800mil house Gen Minimah bought in PH in March
You have made a terrible mistake, you have become a fan of a politician. I am no such thing. I am a fan of Nigeria. For the best of my knowledge the weapons you are talking about were bought by the shagari administration.
Lol you have started personalizing while u far away in Paris. I am not a politician or a fan. I am in the system and agree GMB said the fact. If you are not happy with my opinion pls stick to urs.
not by buhari.
Guess u didn’t read my comment I never said he bought. You buy what you need not what you want
Look, your patronising has gone far enough, let me tell you one thing. I am not going to appologize for being in a foreign country. You statement places you as a fan of a politician.
Lol never asked you to apologise. Just want you respect my opinion instead thinking it based on a bias. Bye, going back to work. As I said earlier welcome back
Mr. Saleh, here is my stand. I never supported the use of mercenaries in Nigeria and from day one, I questioned why NA cannot secure the NE even without buying new equipment back then, this remains my view till today and I can be bashed again as I was bashed back then, here on Beegeagle’s blog. I even went as far as saying let the Nigerian high commission abroad contact Nigerians who have served in foreign armed forces, most especially US and UK for help rather than hire mercenaries. That said, the military has done excellently well in recent times, they should be encouraged now. Rather than insulted based on unsubstantiated tales. The so-called mercenary leader has come out to say they only trained the military, they never engaged BH and they cannot lay claims to the gains made by NA. Afterall, private contractors train US and UK forces too, the only difference is that the private contractors are their citizens, in the case of Nigeria, these guys are South Africans so? My point is, why continue to tow that line when what is expected of a rtd military General is to shake up the military and bring the military back to form again? NA and NAF still need tremendous improvement in equipment and training. Many of the platforms we’re clamouring for today and some of the equipment the NA is buying now (e.g T-72, BMP-1 e.t.c) were already in the market as at the time he was there, if he had acquired them, the military might have been better off today. When last was the doctrine of Nigerian armed forces reviewed? If there had been substantial review of training and doctrines under him, things might have been better off today.
I think the president elect constant sounding off to the media is becoming tiring. He promised to transform Nigeria during his campaign and just after winning the election, he is already telling Nigerians not to expect any miracles, does that tell you where he stands? Are majority of his party members and sponsors not disgruntled elements that moved from other parties to join his party? How is he going to effectively fight corruption when corrupt and stolen wealth was used to bring him there? Well, I leave that aside and go to my main issue of concern.
In a nutshell, rather than be making noise in the press all the time, let him get there and show us what he can do.
Thank you.
The last time I was a fan of a politician was when obama was being elected, I was such a great fan ! I have learnt since then, annd now I know that being a fan of a politician blindfolds you. I remember one brainwashing expression the germans had, I think it was “heil hitler”, does that resemble one Nigerian expression, one which is used today ? Think well.
Sorry for you then. I have never being a fan of any politician
Just answer the question, the fans can’t answer it.
What is the Nigerian expression of today which looks very much like “heil hitler” ? If you are honest and not a fan then you will know it instantly.
New ADC to C in C appointed is Lt Colonel ML Abubakar from Military Police
is he from the guards brigade ?
I don’t know if the intersection between the MP and the guards brigade is empty or not.
For those who keep patronising me for being on a foreign land let me tell you this: some bloggers may have heard me hint the reasons why my familt had to relocate elsewhere after my father had problems with his CIC ( late sani ). I don’t owe anybody any explanation though.
You don’t have to apologies to anyone Igbi, I also currently live in a “foreign land”. It doesn’t make you, I or anyone else less patriotic.
There are other bloggers who live abroad, known and unknown.
*apologise
Lol never said you should apologize for that. Just said respect my opinion. Many folks on this blog are outside and I have not being very much in nigeria for a while now
I have just caught up with your accusation of corruption on the persons of General Minimah and General Ihejirika. saleh, stop basing all you say on internet calomnies. You are hideing the source of what you are saying because it is one of those “letters”.
How do you want me to respect your opinion when all you say is sourced directly from unreliable sources like the famous “letters” one of which claimed to be written by an officer who publicly came out to reject that claim. it is funny how you can easilly, with no proof accuse a general of corruption, yet with all the proof in the world, you still defend a politician. And you say you are not a fan ! two generals who fought against boko haram, and this is their reward ! Accusations upon accusations. I am not forgetting the fact that General Ihejirika was hated by many people for the simple fact that he is an IGBO, and this new accusation on him after all the other ones is nothing but “racism”. And I am tired of all this racist attitude towards things. Wasn’t general Ihejirika also accused of sponsoring boko haram ? And now you who claim to have served in the army, you are accusing the corrent COAS, with what as proof ? I should go and check out a house he supposedly bought ? So that is your proof ? I don’t know how many times I have to say this: I don’t fall for these tricks, too much mathematics in my life to fall for tricks.
@Saleh. Your opinion is respected. You made good points, corruption is rife in procurement especially with lack of transparency, and for the credit of some here nobody is talking about Iherijika sponsoring terrorists, neither is any one saying anything about Igbo, so I am unsure why you bring it up. I was reading this blog when @Doziex was screaming for PMC’s and I was one who thought it should not be so, NA should be able to handle it.
At that time Doziex was told NA can handle it, then Sambo went ahead and got PMC’s in to train our folks and Eebens men showed us the way. We applauded them and promptly forgot how we this same bloggers were saying what Buhari is saying now. A cursory search should reveal everything on record on this same blog.
I repeat, what is the Nigerian version of “heil hitler” ?
“Sai Buhari” obviously.
But as usual, let’s play the normal Nigerian game of chicken.
When the time comes, the nature of the world is such that we will get EXACTLY what we deserve, just as has happened to every other nation in human history that has chosen to commit suicide.
Well done Nigeria.
Well done.
Thank you sir for answering. Things keep happening the way they are described in machiavelli’s small book.
Logics is my religion.
saleh said this:
“how do you fathom the fact that COAS and generals retire to stupendous wealth when they didnt have any outside businesses while in service. Please call personnel in the the NE to know about a funny form they are being made to sign indicating they collect 100k allowance monthly. money they never collected.i can see this forum being very busy soon when the military cans starts opening”
Actually thiis is not true. And it is quite ridiculous. The fact that someone on this blog could actually say this with no shame is beyond me. And you are not a buhari fan ?
What is the Nigerian version of “heil hitler” ?
I guess some people now understand why I am worried for Nigeria. the way things are going, I foresee africom having a base in Nigeria and I foresee the millitary being disbanned for being “too Nigerian”. look at the accusations people throw against their military, without shame !
I will remind you of the forms soon then you will realize everything is not black and white as you said in mathematics but have plenty shades of grey between
The Military is currently non transparent and is one of the few arms of Government where salaries are not paid directly to the soldiers/workers. Procurement of military equipment is a mysterious and arcane process with few known checks and balances. Routinely early in this conflict we heard of poor kitting , poor logistics and delays in payments of salaries.
In the midst of this lack of transparency, you expect no queries to go to the Military? Just raise our hands and praise them? Do you forget all the cities that fell early in the campaign? That Minimah himself said he was hurt and ashamed? Baga, Monguno, Marte, Mafa, Bama, Damboa, Gwoza, Banki, Gamborou Ngala, Malam Fatori, Damasak, Buni Yadi… You forget the endless turnover of GOCs in the 7th Div and even Zaruwa in 3rd Div was moved out. Brigadiers removed from their post, and hundreds of men court martialeed for cowardice, insubordination and mutiny. Do we till today know the AWOL #’s from the North East Theater?
They have done well now. But they are not perfect, Our leadership has failed us before, and yes there is corruption and it needs to be removed, and the previous political leadership winked @ it . I have no belief the new leadership will be different, but lets not lionize our soldiers and politicians without due consideration to where they have failed.
“Go and ask a soldier in the north-east ?” And that is your proof ?
Being an IGBO is not a crime ! So leave the poor man alone ! Since independence Nigeria has had only 2 COAS of Igbo origin. The first one was killed and the second one was abised in every way possible. Like being the COAS and being an Igbo is a crime ! All sorts of accusations were leveled against General Ihejirika and even today that he is no longer the COAS, new accusations keep coming: “Check out what Gen Ihejirka is worth now and”. And I guess you did that woth your cristal ball ? Or perhaps being an Igbo means “he must have been corrupt” ! And for your info I am an Edo, a Bini !
abused
why do you create abstract stuff I cant remember anyone say being Igbo is a crime, i actually speak the language. on issue of your being Bini, I already knew that when before you embarked on ur last exile you said you were from the SS and Igbi was just a part of your name. Igbinidu, Igbinoba, Igbinovia Igbinosa etc. no mathematical formula needed for that. How was germany
Oga Saleh,
I guess part of the sadness is not that GMB is lamenting the need to resort to mercenaries, like you rightly said, we all did. However, It is the clear insincerity in his utterances that rankles. With his knowledge of the military and the procurement processes as well as the actual Order of battle (not the paper one on wikipedia, but the actual one based on operational and serviceable equipment), he cannot be feigning surprise at how poorly the NA reacted.
The truth is that this war started about 5-6 years ago, but the debacle only started in the twilight of the Ihejirika era in the last 2 years. Dont forget BH started with urban terror in Maiduguri. This same maligned army defeated them and drove them into Sambisa forest.
What is apparent now is that in doing that the weakened old equipment broke down, ammunition stocks were exhausted, and sadly replenishment was very slow in coming (some laxity from FG but also no thanks to US and the West). Minimah came to meet a virtually empty armory with few serviceable equipment (not to mention an army which over the last 20 years has not thought it proper to evolve anti terror tactics and training).
In summary, if you and I can work out this much, How come a General and ex CIC continues to speak like a politician. If Buhari, IBB, OBJ (all ex soldiers by the way) had done half of what GEJ (a ‘bloody’ civillian) did to turn around the army and arrest the rot. We would never have found ourselfs in this mess or had to rely on ‘mercies’.
The least i expected from him was a shameful silence, not these insincere statements.
@Oga Ozed..Thanks for your comments. I have no idea why Buhari is directly commenting on the NA, maybe its just politicking or it may be some unknown reason, many thanks for clarifying that we all challenged the use of PMC’s until it was done and it worked.
Keep in mind that the military of 1982 is not the same one as of 2005, and also keep in mind that Buhari’s mother was from Borno, and he was military governor of NE state (borno, adamawa, gombe, taraba and yobe) which is the nexus of the current war. As well as GOC 3rd div.
Why do I go into old news that every 1 knows. He must have been personally offended that the army could not handle his offensive, based on his own experience with cross border raids and insurgencies in that region. That may have led to the outbursts (I have no idea, I am merely speculating). Plus the military in 1982 did not need upgrading, most of the rot set in with IBB and Abacha under funding the army, and then the civilians continued the tradition of under arming the army.
This is a man whose mom is from Kukawa! a village where BH was showing videos of them worshipping and beheading people. If my moms village was occupied and the NA was waffling I would have a poor choice of words for them.
I think it is important to look at all sides of a discussion in order to arrive at a Crux, Oga Saleh is doing us a service by raising these points that we may not have perspective on.
Although Geneva convention doesn’t apply to terrorists.
The fact Nigeria had to resort to PMCs in a fight in our own backyard in the 21st century is embarrassing. We went to Zaire in the 1960-70s, and then Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia in the 1990s to fight rebels who had toppled a country without needing the help of PMCs. The fact Buhari raised this issue, as a former general in the army during a time Nigeria had less resources and were economically less developed compared to the present time, highlights how terrible things are. This is the sad reality of present day Nigeria. In the last 16 years, the NA has been neglected, there are myriad of training and procurement issues. Raising shows that Buhari, like most reasonable Nigerians, are offended by the fact we had to rely on PMCs to contain an insurgency in our backyard. So we should not politicise it. The issue goes to the heart of what is wrong with the NA. The NA, Navy, Air force have been under-achieving, have been under-funded, under-developed, exploited, degraded, and relegated by the political class partly because of fear of coup and partly because the political class are not interested in the military beyond the ceremonial appearances during official engagements.
By raising the issue of PMCs, Buhari has raised an important issue of neglect of the military but at the same time it gives Nigerians the opportunity to challenge him to improve the condition of the military.
@oga ozed, as usual, you on point!! well said. like marshal beegs once mentioned, you wont hear IBB dragging the name of the army in the mud, or even TY.
one thing is to critique present operational readiness, another thing is to start rubbishing the same army that nurtured him all to appeal his new found council of foreign relations friends.
in the end, we all know how underfunded, under equipped the NA was, add to that the encroaching civilian societal ills. hard for soldiers not to be seduced by this degrading corrupt nigeria that we have today.
however, in spite of all this, no one can deny that the much maligned GEJ did more for the military than buhari, IBB, Abacha, abdusalam, OBJ (’99 – ’07), put together.
Hmmm yes he bought a lot of stuff after we have being bashed for years by BH and thousands killed then even went forward to open the floodgate of procurement when the election was at hand. Abacha, IBB and co were not war time leaders. These procurements were not even transparent quoting from this forum remember the about 460m usd procurement for the airforce.
@Saleh, we all seem to be criticizing the army.
But boko haram are no boy scouts.
The U.K could not defeat The IRA for almost 40 years.
American, with all their weaponry and warchest could not defeat an insurgency in vietnam, iraq and afghanistan and somalia
Colombia is still fighting terrorists after 30 years
Spain could not defeat ETA for more than 20 years
Russia still has residual chechen terrorist activities after 15 years of counterterrorism
China has terrorists acting via their urghar minority muslims
The list is endless
The Nigerian military should be given due credit in public by someone who wants to be their C-in-C.
If he chooses to do any castigation, it should be done in private.
That is the hallmark of a good leader.
Lol @ Oga Rugged, I am actually directing my criticism at the military leadership. the men in the field need all the commendation, the fact they even continued fighting through the period was a miracle. a lot of modern day Nigeria heroes were created. Yes insurgency is not solved over night but you know there was a lot foot dragging, crying over non sale of equipment from the US as if its our right to be sold to, non-investigation of the root causes of the various cases of mutiny (i support mutiny as being a serious offense), under-manning of units in the field, massive corruption etc. The insurgencies you mentioned have one unique feature, which is popular support by a section of those countries while the Colombian case is fueled by drug money. In these cases, the political and military took/are taking the bull by the horn. no funny embarrassing reports of ” they didnt agree to sell arms to us” or our small neighbours (chad, cameroon & niger) are forming a coalition to come and save us even to deploy on our soil.
I think we are all politicising an honest observation made by Buhari. As Nigerians we are terribly averse to truth, and we are needlessly sensitive of criticism. I think we fail to appreciate the fact that Buhari criticising the army and its engagement of PMCs is in my humble opinion, a patriotic thing to do. We are not fighting an external enemy, or some powerful army, we are fighting Boko Haram, a group that if we remember took a long time to develop into what they are today. So it’s not as if BH just grew out of the bark of a mysterious evil tree, no, instead the threat was there as far back as 2002 and the security forces allowed it to grow and get out of hand.
So if Buhari criticises the army, he knows what he is saying. He has been a soldier, and he understands what it would have taken for the army to run to PMCs to deal with internal conflict. So we should not try to politicise the message because some of us may not like the messenger. The current NSA travelled all the way to London to call Nigerian troops cowards! And he explained why by saying: ‘If someone says he has no arms to fight yet when you look at the weapons seized by BH from the Baga raid including 105mm, he asks rhetorically how anyone could justify such claims’. Now if Buhari had said same thing, I guess people would have gone to town to crucify him. But one thing in common with what Buhari has said and Dasuki’s observations, is that these two individuals are ex-NA officers, so when they criticise the army, they are in essence talking professionally as a soldier, not as a civilian. So we have to respect that fact like many of us, these people are professionals, and they know the NA more than many of us do, and the same thing would apply to us if we were to make an honest observation about our own professions!
@ Oga Saleh,
I won’t split hairs with you.
And i won’t rebut your comments word for word.
BUT,….
Lets be frank with ourselves, the Boko haram insurgency had popular support in a section of the country- upcountry.
The Borno elders- well we all heard what they said.
BHT members have significant Kanuri members
And with all due respect, we know what Oga Buhari said about bokoharam
Letz not play games.
Colombia’s neighbors have assisted in their counterinsurgency. Venezuela has been a key broker. America has continued to supply weapons to colombia despite rights abuses.
Lets try to be less disingenuous with our skewed political genuflections…
Using PMCs/mercenaries is not unusual.
It’s been going on since biblical days.
Everybody uses PMCs.
The british use nepalese Gurkhas,
The Angolans used cubans and executive outcomes
Chad uses russians
Americans use PMCs from blackwater to ugandan guns for hire
French use foreigners in the legionnaires
The Germans used ukrainian and czech auxilaries
Russia uses PMCs in Ukraine
The list is endless
I don’t really understand what Buhari is on about…
Using PMCs to deal with internal conflict for a country like Nigeria, if truth must be told, is completely embarrassing. We shouldn’t pretend about it. There is a worrying thing about us Nigerians, we have been conditioned to accept anything as normal including the fact as a great nation, we are happy to recoil to a corner as perennial under-achievers who punch below our weight. If we had had a sensible long term plan for the military right after our ECOMOG experience including the fact that because we lacked a properly equipped blue navy, Nigeria had to send a desperate SOS to the British navy to come to the rescue as the rebels encircled Monrovia even though the Nigerian led ECOMOG had done most of the fighting thus rubbing us of the credit of liberating Monrovia! Problem with us Nigerians is that we tend to easily identify with mediocrity, we prefer to play this cultural ostrich because we don’t want to appear to accept a reality that directly opposes our restricted cultural views on complex issues, or we simply prefer to identify with anything in the name of the status quo without asking questions. And that is why we are going down-hill. For more than 20 years or there abouts, we have had Niger-Dock as our biggest dry dock and when Niger-dock came on stream, there was a lot of things we wanted to do with it, we were thinking of not just fixing ships but building them. Fast forward to today, and we haven’t even mastered the first reasons we built Niger-Dock, so we couldn’t even move to the next stage. Look at Ajaokuta steel complex, Nigeria spend billions of naira building it for a very strategic purpose that is not far from the reasons we had Niger-Dock, but you could also look at smelting plants built by other countries including those in Africa which came on stream right after ours and you’d see these have met the strategic visions for setting them up while in Nigeria we are trapped in an endless cycle of selling Ajaokuta from one firm to another. So we lack vision, we lack direction, and we accept mediocre officials and are more than willing to defend their mediocre policies that lead us to a road to nowhere.
The suggestion that other countries such as the USA use PMCs is a fallacy becomes it compares two vastly irreconcilable situations as if they share any variables in common.
USA used PMCs in Iraq, not Arizona, or Washington, to deal with insurgents because the losses of US soldiers had become a political time bomb! USA did not use PMCs to go after the Boston bombers, nor did they even use PMCs to train their soldiers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Syria. They use PMCs for operations they don’t want to be directly held responsible.
So would it be possible for USA to use Blackwater to deal with the current biker gangs in Texas assuming these gangs go on the rampage and start attacking random targets like BH? Of course that would be unthinkable. Every country in the world at one time or the other have had the need to use PMCs but no responsible and reasonable country would degrade its own military to the point of needing PMCs to deal with internal conflict.
I guess many of us have watched and read of the Cameroonian BIR conducting foreign journalists near our borders without any sign of presence of Nigerian authority. Now imagine if France, or American forces who are just nearby, there are at least 3000 French troops in Niger/Mali/Chad/Cameroun and an unknown number of American troops manning a drone base in Niger, assuming these countries decide to sneak in a team of special forces to strike a target inside Nigeria (assuming this hasn’t happened already) we currently don’t even have the capacity to know. We would probably wake up to read it in the news. My point is, we should stop pretending that things are improving, or are ok and look at where we ought to be rather than where we are presently. It appears Nigeria refuses to accept that it has more potentials than it ascribes to itself. Why? Because when we accept that we have failed in a lot of things, we are afraid that such brutal reality might consume us. But truth is, if we don’t accept the fact things are so bad we need to rebuild the NA and our forces quickly, then we are never going to be able to do it. Why does it have to take South African PMCs, Chad, Niger, Cameroun and others for us to confront Boko Haram? Isn’t that on its own embarrassing? In the 1960s and even up to the late 1980s, Nigeria was providing military and weapons training to ANC which today governs South Africa. Nigeria provided robust support to the revolutionary movements in Rhodesia in the 1970s-1980s. In the 1980s, we helped Chad fight off rebels in its own territory. So my question is, if we didn’t build the capacity to be in a position to have a well trained army during the 1960-1990s, would it have been possible to assist other African countries and in so doing project force and influence in the continent? Would any African country respect a so-called giant that relies on ex-SA soldiers of the 1970s to help it (whether in a technical nature or not is immaterial) tackle an internal conflict?
The things some people say are quite disturbing. How do you get to be as myopic as this. I don’t know how many times Col. Eeben has to remind people that he was hired to training and to mentor the 72 mobile strike force. This very page is dedicated to a response from Col; Eeben. Yet on this very page some people are insinuating that Nigeria “had to rely on a pmc” and that “most reasonable Nigerians” are offended by that. Is iit possible to be honest just for once ?
@Igbi
Do you hallucinate all the time? Or are you simply annoying on purpose? Or you just can’t evaluate issues logically without being so infantile in your thinking? Do you always have to try to insult other people because they hold an opinion not in sync with yours?
@Chynedoo
Choi. Igbi is a true believer o. I used to think he was trolling but further study debunked this. Dude believes in everything he is saying . And yes…. Dont you dare hold a different opinion from him lest you feel his WRATH!!!
SOme people here are so biased that they easily contradict themselves.
I know about one country which uses pmcs not only for training, but also in combat, that country is the usa. It is funny that nobody is ever offended by that; Or perhaps they would soon be offended as soon as buhari points out that they should be.
USA using PMCs in combat:
Yet I don’t see anybody being “offended”
Thank you. Some commentators could do with some education
Regarding the expectations of Nigerians towards the army, Buhari didn’t say anything strange.
In fact I am sure GEJ was also disappointed and embarrassed with the performance of some units of the NA.
In a speech in the recaptured Baga township, the current Chief of the Army also said that he was embarrassed by the performance of the NA.
The NA’s new slogan is “Never Again”; that tells me that even the Army it’s self was embarrassed by their own performance.
Before criticizing Buhari, please wait for him to take over as C-in-C.
%80 of Chadian pilots are Belorussian or other ex Soviet mercenaries, why the hullabaloo about PMC’s, they represent just a fraction of the Nigerian Army fighting force. Less than %1.
@Oje
I appreciate their use for NA, I do not think it is a bad thing. And they are being used for training front line troops. I think part of the outcry is a loss of “face”, and it is an indictment of an underfunded, underarmed and still undermanned force. Considering our population and the threats in our nbhd…. 150K fighting men is too small, and especially with corruption eating its way into the procurement process. I think we need trainers and PMC’s to help introduce new platforms.
I think the blog is currently harrumphing over the words of the incoming president elect. Who is entitled to his opinion and is his own man, it is inevitable that we will all at one time or the other disagree with him.
True word Roscoe but then this is coming i to the fray only because of Boko Haram. You have to factor in our geography, budget etc. 150K fighting men represents an overkill for the Nigerian army, whats the point in having a 500k fighting force which means paying billions of dollars in wages for soldiers to sit on the barracks doing nothing when the combined armies of the next 16 West African countries is less than 100k fighting men? Nigeria’s military brass is missing its priority, our new kind of enemy represents a shift from the norm hence Nigeria should evolve with times. Our Intelligence service is a skeletal organisation,you cannot defeat terror without a robust Intelligence service. A good Intelligence service will be able to uncover Boko Harams logistics supply routes, Chadian supply of men, arms and money to Boko Haram and other nefarious activities, hell we even have 5 Satellites in orbit doing nothing. We are not investing in Intelligence rather we are focusing on 4th Gen fighter Jets, Missile carrying Naval Vesels, Submarines etc, none of which will ever be used against Boko Haram because they are not suited for assymetry and COIN operations. There are Chadian/Boko spies and sympathizers in our government, how do we find these moles?
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/05/ge-starts-manufacturing-of-subsea-well-heads-in-nigeria/
unrelated
I wrote about this fact some months ago. This is a good thing we have going with GE. This is Nigerian American cooperation at its finest. We have a strategic partnership agreement with this company that will guarantee more access to sustainable development activities in the power sector. Many more gas thermal power stations and all that maybe with American financing.They have also done this plant in S.East Nigeria for manufacturing equipment for the upstream oil and gas sector. The best we will actually get from GE was mentioned in passing by Aganga many months ago-“Lean Six Sigma” expertise to run business processes effectively and with waste.
Lean Six Sigma was what no less than Newt Gringrich made a campaign theme for improving the focUS government departments and make them more efficient.
Kudos to the departing Nigerian Trade minister and the GE Chairman / Head of Obama’s council of economic advisers for these strides.
This is the strategic long term relationship that will be Beneficial to both Nigeria and the US that benefits both Nations that runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars that I hope continues.
Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
If you are not a hypocrit then you can answer this simple question: what is Nigeria’s version of “heil hitler” ?
to anybody reading this.
I have been holding my tongue against on the president elect. If I hear any other hypocrit talk about the truth, then I will unlish everything.
Go on an unleash your truth so long as it is not going to be another emotional outburst….
Keep your mouth in its natural position. Emotional outbursts is not my trademark. Who are you even self ? You are insignificant and you haven’t produced anything here. All you do is produce attacks. I actually don’t ever exchange with you unless you come out of your way to comment on what I said. You are useless, unless it is to gang up on someone. You are also clueless. It is an insult that I have to respond to your likes.
chynedodo, the “military expert” has spoken ! It is funny that his military expertise is always in complete agreement with the west and his god like hero buhari. Where did this guy crowl from anyway ?
Mehn!!! It’s hot In here
some ignorant person keeps writing extremely wrong and long comments full with a lot of inacurate and completely fake information, this same individual uses fake reasonings. He does this on purpose, indeed the genuin bloggers here also has a life to live and therefor they can’t spend too much time here, and it gets even worse when the bloggers have the impression of wasting their time. What other impression would a blogger get from reading a long piece of crap ? And then the same bloggers would have to waste time correcting the bunch of lies and fake logics produced by this same fausseur. Ofcourse I am talking about this “chynedodo” whose strategy is to write a million lies. Who has the time to correct a millipn lies ? That is the startegy of repetition: the more one tells a lie, the more it is credible.
How come it’s difficult for you to comment without using insults there are other bloggers with the same view point like you. I don’t see them raining insults
Dan kwaya mutum
Now this same chynedodo is telling me that me standing against prejudice is an “emotioanl outburst” ? Seriously where did this thing crawl from. Go ahead write your incredibly long and boaring propaganda which is your habbit. Logics and common sense are not your friends, therefor you must write a long piece of crap.
….
Lord, why is there always argument on this blog the moment certain people start to comment.
Buhari said what he had to say, same thing we all felt, but as a leader, there are some things you say indoors and some things you never say publicly, but sometimes leaders play to the gallery.
That said, the Nigerian government allowed BH to grow to the monster it became, no one else is to blame but the Government for underestimating them and dragging its feet to give our troops what they needed when this crisis started, under their watch BH went from bow and arrows to tanks and RPGs, the Government is responsible for those lives lost, because our leaders seem to have zero sense of urgency, and that’s sad.
So that said, people don’t ruin this blog again with endless insults and arguments, we all have the right to our own opinion. And if you don’t like what another person has to do, don’t read it and move on.
I agree with Buhari and Boko Haram is too small fry a thing to be restrained about in public.This is multi party democracy, the man Buhari himself was also called a CO sponsor of Boko and heavens did not fall. After 29th of May, if he continues along this line then many people including yours truly will surely copy relevant 35s of his oath of office as a reminder and let him no that we did not vote him to tell old history. For now “let him enjoy his ice cream while it is on his plate” (words of Thornton Wilder).
*sections*
*know*
@Sir Kay
Some arguments are repetitive beyond belief, combined with insults and threats to ensure we all know how logical the argument is. We do need passionate members on the blog though, a little conflict is good to engage in.
There is a lot left unsaid here, but it is well said to say the NA has done good so far, they can do better. On our political leadership, they dropped the ball on this big time, like you said they watched the insurgency meta-size on their watch and paid for it with their political careers.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/05/transforming-osun-into-leading-technology-hub/
haba! oga saleh, IBB and Abacha where not wartime leaders? with the unnecessarily wastage in LBR and SRL? So much avoidable casualties in those theatres just bcos our oga kpatakpatas couldnt care less about the little man in the field. yes, there are a thousand and one negative criticisms of the handling of this conflict. but hey, whats new here, this is nigeria. we could have finished the civil war in ’68, but no lagos was busy fighting with port harcourt and the war dragged until near attrition.
we could have annexed fernando po in ’76, but no ramat died, and obj was too interested in heavens knows what. sagari should have given alhijo a serious knock on the head in the early ’80s, but no, he said they where both fulanis and would handle things more amicably (so much for clear cut objective foreign policy), we could have wrapped the LBR ops in early ’91, but no taylor lived to embarrass us for many more years.
note, even if the primary or secondary goals where to keep the boys busy from plotting coups, we could have still completed the combat and peace enforcement part of LBR and still station thousands of troops there for nation building. get the job done, and still sleep peacefully at night knowing the hotheaded officers are earning their pay deservedly in the field.
Lol. Sorry actually forgot about Ecomog and even Bakassi. But those didn’t touch our national fabric like this one
oga saleh, if it wasnt for the access to today’s media on steroid, believe me when i say the average nigerian wouldnt give a damn about the ‘events’ in the NE. those in the south will only express shock about friends and relatives travelling north or residing there, while the FG would continue to whitewash it since these states are not the golden egg bringers.
its just our way. our survival mode has eaten too deep into our psyche, that rather than fight back and confront when pushed to the wall, we break through the wall and continue our everyday struggle. why this is commendable on its own, in the long term, it is not sustainable for national development and unity.
SRL was repetion of LBR and even more disgrace in ’98/ ’99. khobe was begging for gunships did abacha lift a finger? no, the HOS was far more famous with gifting ministers millions in hard currency. for heavens sake, how much were MIL copters going for in 97-98? we could have acquired a dozen with one stroke of the pen, even the CBN could have done that. no, our boys where dying helplessly from lack of helicopter medevac, air surveillance for convoy and gunship cover. meanwhile we neither fixed our BO-105s nor did we procure mi-24s or mi-17s to prosecute the campaign.
this was the same time field guns lacked primer and our guys couldnt even get proper artillery support even when these howitzers where in the field. imagine, primer to move FH, and why shouldnt serious first rate armies laugh at us. what happened to primer or mobile artillery. we had our MRLS, gathering dust. i could keep going. so please do not heap the coal on GEJ, like i mentioned before, he did more than those khaki men put together.
the moral of the story is that the nigerian govt is never serious until there is fire on the mountain. taylor was allowed to humiliate our guys, inflitrate and almost overrun Monrovia before we rushed reinforcement in ’92. two or three well prepared battlegroups in SRL would have saved us the avoidable losses of late ’98 early ’99 SRL campaign. its just how we do things. primordial instincts, so unfortunate. i bet you even the vanguard units that smashed BH would probably be begin for ammo, supplies, basic stuff that should be everyday kits of a functioning army. but no, ours is always unnecessary drama. its the nigerian way, we hate straight clear road, we rather go through wall and clouds than work a clear cut path.
our high command should be efficient, objective and thorough, that is what the General Staff is for, but no even TRADOC has been reduced to exam centre and commandants knw that is the next place before retirement for them. we do need self reflection and will power.
God bless our fighting men, and may we as nigerians find the will to put our act together for the sake of the black man and not just think of ourselves only
@Freeegulf. Great breakdown. Jonathan did more about procurement than IBB and Abacha ever did. Which is why I will always say he did good at the end. The problem is the slow pace you mentioned which is sometimes part of our cultural fabric. All our leaders and we the people unfortunately exhibit it.
yes oga Roscoe, i did the piece so we dont solely blamely GEJ for our present military predicament. the rot has been there since the 80s. and our fire brigade approach to crises does not help either.
and i will continue to be critical of the army high command. the fault is not all theirs, but they shoulder a large chunk of it. the general staff should be as objective as possible, this is the only way the military can remain resolute and steadfast in adversity, and also face their political masters when it come to fiscal agendas relating to NA.
we dont need an NA of more than 120k, even 150 is pushing it. how they rotate their troops while keeping combat experience practical is the fine prints of modern first rate army. our defence doctrine needs to be reviewed. the fact that we are currently COIN focused should hopefully not lead to negating conventional theories and field practices.
Sir beeg long time! Let us call a spade a spade! When buhari was a fighting Biafra we used east German and Egyptian mercs killed 2 million IBO’s in 3 yrs! He is saying his army should be tried for killing 8000 BH ! Pls we should be objective! And not kill the moral of our troops! We didn’ t have an air force when he was fighting in the civil war! We hired Egyptian and east Germans to fly our planes, gen adulsalam could cope as a cadet air force officer, he had to drop to the NA! pls we should encourage our boys.